It’s interesting that you started in-state and did well, and now it sounds like your kids will also graduate with no debt and attend a prestigious school. In that case, do you actually factor ROI into the decision? Do you think they'd need that legacy and luxury donation later for their children and still able to afford the tuition? (In 20 years, $92,000 becomes roughly $244,000 with 5% inflation.) |
I think it's to smear the "roommate on financial aid buying Starbucks" and also to get people into a fight about taking on debt and brattiness. The tell is that kids CAN'T take out $20k/year in loans anymore. Nobody will loan that to them. The parents can take out HELOC loans if they really want (bad idea) but there's no real scenario where the kid agreed to take $20k/year in loans while the parents pay $70k. |
Federal student loans are limited. However, private student loans are not. |
| My parents told me I could go either where they could afford or where I won a substantial (not a partial discount) scholarship. It was a good set of boundaries in that it was very clear, and it meant that I would not drive them or myself into debt. It also put the responsibility on me to find choices that we could all live with. I resented at first having to cross expensive, prestigious institutions off my list, but ended up being a big fish in a small pond, where intensive mentorship set me up for significant success later. Sometimes it is better to go someplace that wants _you_, rather than the other way around. |
| I had partial aid, loans, and a job myself. Lots of ways to make money on campus. |
If this kid took out private loans, then OP FAILED AS A PARENT. |
How stupid are you? There is no way a freshman in college can earn 90K a year, even without a full course-load. It's amazing they can work to earn the difference, which is 20K! And they have every right to complain if OP and spouse blithely signed the Parent Plus loan and forced their kid into this college, telling him he could just work off the 20K every year. The kid didn't realize it would be this hard, and that's not his fault. He's allowed to complain. I would never do this to my kids. We're fortunate that we can pay for all their education, but if we had to borrow, I wouldn't make them study AND work at the same time. They can pay me back after they graduate and have a full time job. If their work is so stressful that their grades dip in college, then they're less likely to get that full time job once they graduate anyway, so I would just be looking out for everyone's finances in that scenario... |
| People acting like this is an outrageous, unbelievable cost… $92K sounds like the bill for an Ivy. It’s approximately the cost of Yale, for instance. |
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This is on you, OP.
You should know your child better than that. Most kids don't do well working plus studying. That's a lot of multitasking in today's competitive atmosphere in college. It's not like YOUR college experience, where you could skip half the classes, earn money and still get a nice job after graduation. Right now it's cutthroat. The economy is terrible. Graduates need excellent grades, top internships, etc. If your kid is working and it's taking time away from doing the best he can in his major... that's not really thinking ahead, is it? You should have steered him to colleges you could afford outright. This is a parenting fail, because you can't expect a kid to understand how the world works. |
No one said anything about earning 90k/ year, or 20k/ year. His loans are for around that amount. He is lucky his parents are paying what they are. But many people do earn 20k/ year, and much more, while going to school full time- just not spoiled, entitled people like OP's son. |
Our UMC kid got full tuition at our state flagship. We pay for room and board, as well as all spendings. He does not have a car, he lives in an off campus apartment, eats in the dining hall/takeouts/eats out/cooks in the apartment, is not into Greek life, travels abroad at least once a year with his friends. He has earned around 50K through internships which he has saved for retirement and investments. All in all - his college has cost us 60K for 4 years and double major for costs other than tuition. |
You are upper class, not UMC. Be real. Good for him. |
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I live in a Division I college town. A lot of college students work jobs to pay the bills.
Between summer jobs and a job during the year the student can easily make $20k each year to pay his loan commitment. |
Also if it’s a top college campus, these days they are FILLED with free food and events with a lot of food. My kid eats like a king hardly ever going out, because there’s always some event to crash with food. |
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People here have to be joking? You’re telling me an everyday college student now can’t make 20 damn thousand a year?
If they live in a liberal state, they could be making 30-40 if they tried. It’s actually pathetic seeing a bunch of parents act as if having to work is relegating punishment on a kid who chose to go to a nice, fancy college. |